In Check
by Burntsugrr
Summary: Gabby. Unfinished and will likely remain so. People seem to like it so I'm leaving it up but don't get hooked cause that muse hasn't lived here in years.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Gibbs found himself subconsciously pressing his foot into the floor, as though putting pressure on a brake pedal. It was a reasonable response given that the sedan was fishtailing after an 80 mile an hour sharp right hand turn. The fact that there was no brake pedal on his side of the car was of little interest to his nervous system. He preferred to be in control, but at this point it seemed smarter to let Ziva drive off her steam than take out her aggression on the catalyst.

"Why don't you reel him in? Why do you let him run his mouth all the time like a, a, I don't know what? I'm going to shoot him one day. He will be dead as a door and we will have two minutes of peace and quiet."

The team leader remained silent. They reached the parking lot and Gibbs climbed out almost before the tires stopped screeching. "Go home Ziva, it's late. I'll see you at oh-eight hundred." He started toward his own vehicle but noticed a light on where it shouldn't be and turned back toward the building.

"What about you Gibbs? You going to work all night?"

"No Officer David, I am not, just checking up on something before heading out."

The music was deafening. The girl was who was, Gibbs had a hard time calling it singing, but for the sake of argument, singing, was apparently only happy when it rains.

"Abbs?" he yelled but it was a raindrop in the ocean of sound. He stood behind her and rested his hand on her shoulder blade causing Abby to drop her Caff Pow. "Geez Gibbs!" was lost in the music. He wiped clean her workbench while she turned down the cd player and examined her shirt, which was soaked through. Sighing she snapped on a lab coat and removed her top underneath it, a move Gibbs watched with a smirk.

"See something you like?"

"Sexiest thing I've seen all day Abbs. What're you doing drinking Caff Pows at 2AM?"

"You expected milk? I've got 5 dna samples to run and about 6 different types of goo to run through the mass spec."

He tossed the paper towels soaked with soda in the trash and moved behind her, massaging her shoulders. "What can I do?"

She picked up her empty cup and shook it, the straw rattling sadly.

"Aside from sending you to an early grave from caffeine overload."

She relaxed into his hands, "You're doing it."

His thumb caressed the back of her neck as his fingers worked tension from her muscles. "Put me to work Ab."

"Thanks. As good as this feels though? I gotta get moving. You should go home."

"You don't trust me as a lab assistant?"

Abby began to pace, talking with her hands "Okay, picture this, this goes to trial and some defense attorney questions the evidence. 'Oh, tell me Miss Sciuto, how did you determine that the substance on my clients shoes was indeed KY Jelly?' 'Um, well, Madame Attorney, Gibbs swabbed it and then after dropping the swab in the sink put it in the mass spec and came up with about 1600 peaks, four of which…"

"I get it Ab."

"You know, I know you mean to be helpful, but you suggesting you could just step in and help in my lab is like my suggesting I'll just trade places with you for the day out in the field."

He kissed her cheek "I'll be upstairs if you need me."

"You're staying?"

"If you're here all night, I'm here all night."

He was upstairs roughly 15 minutes when her phone rang.

"KY Jelly?"

"I just picked a random substance, I wasn't giving you results."

He shook his head and hung up the phone. He almost always found himself smiling after an interaction with Abby. There weren't many people he could say that about. The day had been long, his team had been particularly rambunctious and he was tired right down to his aching arthritic bones, but knowing Abby was here was enough to give him a second wind.

Computers never do what he asks them to. He hates them because other people can get them to tell all sorts of secrets and he can only get them to make him feel like a dinosaur. Three failed attempts to log on and he's barred for 12 hours from the site McGee set up for him to use as storage.

Closing his eyes he leans back in his chair, ignoring the complaining squeak of its backrest. He does not review the day in his head; it would only push his blood pressure up. He gives no neural activity to the case they are working; the leads will do no good until Abby's analysis is finished.

Abby. His mind settles there like a cat in the sunshine. He doesn't analyze his feelings for her; no good can come of examining too closely what draws him in. If he did he might find that she is the one true place he can be soft with no fear of malice or taunting. Or he might find that it is nothing more than the appeal of a lily-white thigh peaking out from under a short skirt. Either way, it's best left alone. They have fallen into a comfortable space of acceptance and he will be happy with that.

Only it isn't enough. Gibbs is an obsessive man. Normally this obsession manifests itself through work, or in lieu of that, his boat, but increasingly he finds himself inventing excuses to press Abby for interaction.

He fights his demons for as long as he can and then switches on the monitor in the bullpen. Flicking he watches dark rooms pass by until with a sudden tightness in his chest he observes as the lab technician fills the plasma. She isn't talking to herself, or singing. She is working, absorbed in extraction. Beautiful and precise she is an elegant contradiction of science and wild woman. She bites her lip as she draws liquid into a pipette and Gibbs wishes he could freeze the frame, zoom in on her blood red mouth. As quickly as he had turned it on he punched the button to shut the screen off.

Watching her work had made him feel like a stalker, a criminal. He didn't want to invade her privacy; he just wanted some of the magic dust that seems to spread over him when she was around.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was a double-edged sword having Gibbs upstairs. She felt safer with him in the building but at the same time it was tough to concentrate knowing they were the only ones around and that he was staying just for her.

Abby guessed that he thought she was being kind when she said things about liking older men, or finding gray (it was more silver she thought) hair sexy. It had nothing to do with kind. Gibbs melted her butter. He turned her knees soft every time he locked eyes with her, though she struggled not to show it most days. Every kiss on the cheek was like a hundred super sized Caff-Pows tearing through her system.

He made her feel protected that was for sure, but what really revved her engine was his power. Coiled confidence like lightening bolts just waiting to strike and cause untold damage any place he chose. He knew what he wanted and he wasn't afraid to ask for it.

If only he'd make some demands of her.

Sure he looked to her for analysis and insight but just once she wished he'd claim something more. She could lose herself in fantasy for hours just imagining herself on her knees at his side while he did nothing more exciting than read the evening paper. The exquisite tension of waiting, ready and eager for him to acknowledge his need for her and speak it as her command.

Abby bit her lip and tried to force her concentration to stay with the task at hand. It was nearly two hours before she had all of her samples loaded into either the spec or in the case of the dna, spinning in the centrifuge. She stretched and checked the clock, close to 3:30AM. There was nothing she could do for at least a half-hour maybe she could talk Gibbs into driving her to the all night gas station for more soda.

Upstairs she found him, head down on his desk. He might be asleep, or he could just be thinking. Either way turn about was fair play, she snuck up behind and rested her hands on his shoulders, prepared to repay the massage. Before she knew what was happening she was on the floor with Gibbs pinning her hands on either side of her head.

"OW! Kinky, I didn't know you liked it rough." She giggled when the initial shock wore off.

He remained over her, his hands trapping her tiny wrists to the ground, his breath labored. "Damn it! I could have shot you." Alarm bells rang in his head telling him to get off of her, to free her to get up, but they were drowned by desire slamming the blood in his veins at his temples.

"Um, Gibbs? Not that I couldn't stay trapped underneath you like this all night, because I totally could, but could you maybe ah…" she pointed her chin and lifted her side. When he had thrown her down her right side had landed on a pile of books that were biting painfully into her side. He shoved the books out from under her and smoothed his hand over the bruise at her waist and hip. "I'm sorry Ab."

No longer held in place she retained the position he'd dropped her to and widened her eyes, "Was that a real live Jethro Gibbs apology?"

The smile on his lips was small but the one in his eyes was not. "Yeah, it was. Don't let it get around okay?" He pulled her up to a sitting position and felt the back of her head. "You alright? You hit your head pretty hard."

"Nothing a new Caff-Pow wouldn't fix. I've got lots of time before my tests are done." She drew her knee up to her chin, knowing that it pulled her skirt up to God Knows Where but not caring.

He shook his head and tried to look anywhere but at her. "No Caff-Pow's after 2AM, it's bad for you. There must be some other way to keep you awake."

Maybe it was the lack of caffeine in her system. Maybe it was the hour. It was very likely the combination of the two coupled with the excitement of him holding her wrists over her head just moments ago, but she couldn't help herself. She leaned over and she kissed him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

He pushed her away, gently but firmly away. Didn't he? He must have. He couldn't possibly be pulling her in closer to him. There was no way he was pushing his tongue into her mouth, which would be **so** unprofessional. And yet, she was coming closer, and his tongue was indeed hungrily exploring places it knew it shouldn't.

The heat coming off him was unmistakable. She had been sure he'd stop her but instead he'd not only matched her intensity but raised it a thousand fold. It was Abby who blinked first, pulling back just a little only to hear a low growl before being pushed back to the floor. This time his hand cradled her head, protecting it from the hard surface. He kissed her jaw line, the hollow of her throat, and then hovered, his face above hers, his eyes searching hers.

She caught his bottom lip in her teeth quickly and spoke around it, "Don't stop now."

It was all the invitation he needed. Pulling his sweatshirt off the back of his chair he lifted her head and placed the shirt beneath it, kissing her forehead as he did. They kissed again and his rough palm found her thigh, caressing it, pulling at it, pushing her leg up and around him. He left her mouth to trace her collarbone with his lips and then, slowly unsnapping the lab coat, his hot breath filled her cleavage.

They both froze at the sound of the elevator door. She snapped the few buttons closed again, he moved back a fraction, his entire body on high alert. They were shielded by his desk but who could be here at this hour, and how many seconds did they have before they were noticed?

"Hello? Anybody here?" A security officer called out. Gibbs popped his head up from behind his desk, his face flush, pupils dilated, and breath only barely returning to normal. "Can I help you?"

The officer came closer and saw Abby on the floor. "You okay miss?"

"Fine, ah, I'm fine. I fell off my platforms and hit my head but Gibbs is taking care of me."

"You two working late?"

"Yeah, and don't go shutting off the lights in my lab, I hate it when you guys do that, always hitting the wrong switch and shutting down my analysis. Geez." She sat up to read him the riot act. Gibbs turned his face away to shield his amused look.

"Sorry ma'am, I'm afraid I already shut everything down. Hope I didn't hit the wrong switch this time. Pretty sure it was just the lights. You gonna need medical attention?"

Gibbs stood and helped Abby to her feet. "She won't but if you screwed up her evidence I'm pretty sure you will."

"Good night then." With that the officer was off taking the heat of a perfect moment with him.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

(A/N I swear I wrote this chapter before the season finale so any similarity –it's only a small one- is coincidence. My heart is broken by the way things went in Hiatus 2, but I'm going to try to keep it together and continue this fic.)

Abby stomped her way to the elevator. If this guy shut off the centrifuge she'd be here all night. If he'd shut down the mass spec she'd have to start from square one. Damn it.

Gibbs stood behind his desk, arms at his sides, watching her. Outwardly he looked serene; inwardly he wondered whether the guard had given her an excuse to get away. He would let her go, the next move was entirely hers to make or not.

"Aren't you coming?" she demanded, holding the elevator door open for him.

"I don't want to be a witness if you have to kill him."

She rolled her eyes and continued to hold the door until he smiled and came to her.

As the doors slid shut she faced him, "You wouldn't make me go down into the dark lab all by myself would you?"

"Abby, you _like_ the dark." He countered.

"Yeah, but it's so much better when you share it." The doors opened and she led the way through the room, not bothering with the light. The quiet whirring of the centrifuge let her know that was okay and the small green light remained lit on her mass spectrometer so it looked like the guard would be pardoned.

She popped the first three snaps of the lab coat open and took a step in his direction, "Everything's okay here, where were we?"

He stopped her with his hands on her hips, holding her at arms length. "Abby, I shouldn't have, I got carried away but this isn't a good idea."

She spun herself out of his grasp, "I knew it. I knew you didn't really want, I mean, I know I'm not the director, or some red-headed beauty that…"

He stopped her with a finger to her lips, "You're beautiful Ab. It has nothing to do with my not wanting you." She may not have believed his words, but she believed his eyes.

She stepped back on her own and looked up at him with a small pout.

"Because we work together, right?"

A sad smile made him all the more handsome, "Not entirely. If I were rational when it came to you that would be enough."

She looked hopeful, "But you're not?"

His eyes traced the opening of her lab coat, "Clearly not."

The room was full of shadows and darkness, lit only in small spots by equipment. She felt his gaze more than she saw it and her breath quickened. It set her every nerve on edge knowing that he was looking at her, wanting her but not touching her. She fidgeted a little and delighted with the anger that flashed in his eyes when she was anything but perfectly still.

He had no idea she'd seen it. She gave no indication of knowing how difficult it was to keep the animal inside in check.

Abby could take no more, if he wasn't going to move to action she was going to get a reason. She scooted onto her stool next to him and rested her chin in her hand, "Then tell me why not." She asked as though she were asking for a bedtime story then quickly added, "And don't give me the age difference bullshit because that won't fly."

His eyes twinkled. It was so easy to be drawn into her, all he wanted to do was smooth her hair, brush her cheek with the back of his hand, kiss her again and again, and crush her to him but that is where the problem began.

"I don't care about age." This was true. He never questioned that younger women would find him attractive because he'd always been an attractive man. He didn't think about it or preen about it, it was a fact as much as the fact that he had been a gunny. Women reacted to him in a certain way his entire life he never questioned it.

She took his hand, "Then what?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

He looked at their hands together on the lab bench. His was strong where hers was delicate but something in him believed the truth might be the opposite. It took some time before he could find the words to begin.

His tone was patient. "I told you a long time ago that I'd keep you safe. I meant that."

"I believe you Gibbs. What does that have to do with this?" Frustration boiled close to the surface but she knew that to move forward she would have to push it away.

"Everything. If anyone found out it would make you a target for my enemies." It was the truth, not in total, but certainly the truth.

She chewed on that beautiful lip again, a sight he found irresistible. "Okay, but that's pretty much true of anyone you might be with, I know you don't live like a monk, so what gives?"

He nodded his head, he should have known she would be smart enough to want more. In a way that was what he found so attractive in the first place. "Abbs," he ran a finger over her hand and let it go. "I can be…" he searched for the correct word, "punishing."

It was the perfect word to her ears. "Really?" she stood and brushed against him, "I wouldn't mind a little punishment."

"STOP." He was adamant and she obeyed immediately. "This isn't one of your games Abby. I'm not talking about some playground with fuzzy handcuffs and safe words."

She sat back down, her voice shaking a little at his anger. "Then what are you talking about?"

He pushed his face in hers, heat radiating off of him, "I'm talking about possessing you completely, owning you, fucking you so violently that you break under my will."

He knew he had gone too far. He had never planned on telling her and now he had and feared the trust that held them together was forever broken. She closed her eyes, "Just me, or are you like this with all of the women you sleep with?"

His voice was disturbingly even. "Just you."

When they opened her eyes were clear and direct, holding him in place. She brought her lips close enough that his mouth felt hers move, "Then do it."

"You don't know what you're asking."

"I trust you."

"I don't. Don't you understand? Not when it comes to you."

"Here's the part **you** don't know. I lay awake at night, barely able to breathe thinking about you doing exactly what you just said, praying for it, willing it into existence. Do it. Or do you want me to beg?" With that she got to her knees in front of him.

He felt dizzy. Keeping himself from ripping her apart with his need was blinding work and his head throbbed. "Abby, please, I don't know how to make you understand, this isn't some game for control and pleasure. There is darkness inside me I never want you to feel but if you keep this up…"

She stood tall and strong and faced him, "You said it yourself, I like the dark." She brushed her fingers across his forehead "If you think your anger is a revelation then you don't know me as well as you think you do. I can take it Gibbs. I love the protection you offer me from the world but the one thing I never want to be protected from is you, right to the core of you, I want all of it, the softness, the anger, the control, and yeah, I want that dark part. I won't walk away."

His eyes went to the floor with her last sentence; his body seemed to slump slightly. Abby repeated herself with her hands on either side of his face, forcing his attention back to her, "I won't walk away. I swear to you Gibbs, I cannot be frightened away."

His eyes got red, "You don't know Abby."

She kissed him again, soft yet urgent and then whispered into his ear, "If you can't trust you, can you trust me?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

His eyes were cool. "Get back to work." With that he left her alone in the dark and returned to his desk.

He felt no remorse this time when he brought her lab up on the screen. She hadn't turned on the lights which made it difficult to see her in detail but he watched anyway. Her response to his leaving would tell him everything he would need to know about whether they would proceed as she desired or try to return to the light hearted banter they has shared as recently as this morning.

Expecting to see tears, or for her to grasp her silly stuffed animal to her chest he watched in delighted surprise as she typed furiously for a few moments on her keyboard then walked to the elevator. He met her when the door opened.

"I said get back to work Abby."

"You're not walking away from me that easily."

He kissed her hard, pulling her hair as he finished and sending her reeling backward into the elevator again. "Do you want this?" There was that growl again.

She shook her head that she did. "More than anything."

He spoke through a clenched jaw. "Then it's by my rules and in my time. Go back to work."

When she reappeared on the plasma he watched her pace a few moments. When she sat on her stool he dialed her extension and watched as she hit speakerphone.

"I'm working Gibbs. I can't do much until this stuff finishes running."

"Take off the lab coat." He disconnected.

She smiled and turned to face the camera, slowly popping the coat open and then dropping it to the floor. Her bra was crimson, he knew this from the time behind his desk, the picture on the screen was too dark to distinguish color. She reached for the hook between her breasts and he quickly dialed her, his fingers missing the numbers twice before finding the correct ones. Again she hit the speakerphone but didn't have time to speak.

"Stop." Again disconnect.

She left the bra on. It was becoming impossible not to allow himself to become fully aroused, the only thing stopping him was the constant reminder of just how dangerous a game they were playing.

He watched her fidget on the stool. She ran her hands up her thighs, pulling her short skirt up with them and then she sat perched on the edge, her legs open wide her fingers slowly making their way toward her inner thighs and upward.

He rang her phone. "You don't touch yourself unless and until you're instructed."

She wrinkled her nose at the camera and he had to run his palm over the growing bulge in his pants. She wasn't going to make this easy. He wouldn't want it if she did.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

He watched her sit, her back straight, unmoving until something happened behind her to draw her attention. She went to the centrifuge and began pulling small vials from inside.

He rang. "Lab coat back on while you work." Disconnect.

She dialed him back. "Do you want me to just keep the headset on and the line open so you can stop calling every two seconds?"

"Did I ask you to put the headset on?"

"I just thought.."

"Don't." Disconnect.

She rolled her eyes as she hung up. The phone rang and she held her breath.

"Roll your eyes at me again and this is finished."

She faced the camera and nodded that she understood. She didn't dare speak or hang up until he did. "Good." He hung up.

Abby tended to the dna samples then pulled results from the printer of her mass spec. Gibbs didn't quite understand all that she did but after a flurry of activity she again went to her stool, removed her lab coat and sat still.

Ring. "Good girl. How long before you're busy again?"

She shrugged, "Half hour?"

"Panties off. Don't sit back down." Disconnect.

He tilted his head and licked his lips as she stood and shimmied out of her bikini briefs and dropped them onto her lab coat on the floor.

Abby caught her breath as the elevator door opened. He smiled when their eyes met but this was not so much a friendly smile as a hungry one.

She swallowed hard, "I feel like a lamb being stalked by a lion."

He stopped just a hair shy of stepping directly on her and exhaled warm breath up her neck before whispering in her ear, "You are."

The lab tech let out a little gasp of surprise when he lifted her effortlessly and sat her on her bench. He kissed her lips softly, not allowing her time to part them before backing away and sitting on her stool facing her.

(A/N This fic is on extended hiatus. Those of you who have emailed me for the link to the version not appropriate for the forum I am afraid I'm no longer updating that either. I heartily apologize as I hate to leave a fic unfinished but for now this one must remain as is.)


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